


Wake Up, Sunset Curve

by isnt_that_wizard



Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [9]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Luke and Reggie go to Los Feliz High School, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anger, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Band as Family, Bobby was still born in the 80s, Crying, Found Family, Grief, How the Boys went from Sunset Curve to Julie and the Phantoms, It's good I promise, Luke never ran away, POV Sunset Curve, Rated teen for language, Sad, Sad with a Hopeful Ending, This AU is so similar to the show and yet so different, Whump, and are all teenagers, except for Bobby, i don't know how to describe this properly, i like him better than this story makes him seem, i made bobby a jerk because it fit with the story, kind of, maybe a little fluff, no ghosts, the boys are alive in 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isnt_that_wizard/pseuds/isnt_that_wizard
Summary: “What are we going to do, guys?” Reggie finally broke the tense silence that had been sitting between them for hours, sounding broken as he spoke.Alex and Luke just looked at him silently, then at each other. The fire in Luke’s eyes was something they’d never seen from their lead singer before. They were used to that spark that lit the world up when he performed, the heat when he got really into a song. But this was angry. Like it could burn down the world.As the three of them looked at each other, Reggie and Alex could see the anger diminish into something else. The fire was still there, but it was dimmed to. . .  sadness.“I don’t know,” Luke whispered, choking on his own words as water filled his eyes.---Luke, Reggie, and Alex are three teenagers in a band called Sunset Curve. With the help of their mentor/manager Bobby Wilson, they're slowly making their way into the 2020 LA music scene. Everything seemed to be looking up. But when Bobby does something that threatens to wreck everything they've worked towards, the boys have no idea what to do. It feels as if they're stuck in limbo. But maybe the girl with the voice of an angel in their school's music program might be able to help.
Relationships: Alex & Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956307
Comments: 44
Kudos: 264





	Wake Up, Sunset Curve

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first work in a new series I am working on! The series will explore how the band's lives would be the same and how they would be different if Alex, Luke, and Reggie had all been born in the 2000s. This will consists of moments both in or mentioned in the show, and how they might play out in a universe where there are no ghosts. Before I started this series as a whole, I did write one work that will fit into it later: Sentenced to Be With You. 
> 
> Wake Up, Sunset Curve explores how the boys meet Julie, what happened to Sunset Curve, and what may be the beginnings of Julie and the Phantoms. In this universe, Bobby was still born in the 80s, making him an adult in this timeline and still the father of Carrie. Bobby was still involved in Sunset Curve, as the band's mentor and manager. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Luke had been nothing less than  _ fuming  _ all day. Reggie and Alex, admittedly, weren’t much better. None of them even knew what to say to each other due to the anger, grief, and betrayal flowing from each of them. Alex had been so angry banging out Now or Never on his drums that he’d broken his sticks. Reggie had been mindlessly strumming on his bass, but he never seemed to be able to get the instrument properly tuned. Luke had been throwing darts at the board on his basement wall, once throwing it so harshly that the dart went so off direction that it almost hit Alex and Reggie where they sat on the Pattersons’ basement couch. 

“What are we going to do, guys?” Reggie finally broke the tense silence that had been sitting between them for hours, sounding broken as he spoke. 

Alex and Luke just looked at him silently, then at each other. The fire in Luke’s eyes was something they’d never seen from their lead singer before. They were used to that spark that lit the world up when he performed, the heat when he got really into a song. But this was angry. Like it could burn down the world. 

As the three of them looked at each other, Reggie and Alex could see the anger diminish into something else. The fire was still there, but it was dimmed to. . . sadness. 

“I don’t know,” Luke whispered, choking on his own words as water filled his eyes. 

They had all done so well at not crying up to this point, but if Luke started, it was bound to set the other two off. Alex tried to take a calming breath, running his hand through his hair and pulling it a little as he did. Reggie was bouncing his leg faster than seemed possible from his spot next to Alex. With a newfound blanket of sadness fallen over them, Luke trudged his way over and plopped down on the couch on Alex’s other side. 

“I can’t believe he could do this to us,” Luke whispered. “I mean- it’s  _ Bobby.” _

“Trevor,” Alex corrected, practically spitting out the name. 

“We’ve worked so hard for  _ years _ ,” Reggie spoke up. “And he ruined it. He fucking ruined it.”

All three of them sounded on the verge of tears. Trevor Wilson hadn’t just ruined what they had worked for- he had ruined  _ them. _ Luke, Reggie, and Alex felt more broken than they ever had before. This man, who they had trusted and thought cared about them, had completely destroyed Sunset Curve. 

It had been just over a year since they’d met Trevor. He’d introduced himself as Bobby- his real name and maybe the only true thing he’d told them. They’d been playing an open mic night at a bar in Hollywood. Sunset Curve had been together for two years at that point, but they were just starting to get out in the public. That bar had been one of the first public gigs they’d played. When they got offstage, Bobby had approached them. Reggie had been the first to recognize him. Trevor Wilson had been the famous rhythm guitarist for a band in the 90s, and after his band mates had died unexpectedly in a car accident, he had later made a name for himself with a solo rock album. He was popular, famous, and had started in a local LA band just like them. He was everything they’d dreamed they’d get to be some day. 

Bobby had told them he loved their sound and thought they had a lot of potential to move forward as a band. He offered to mentor them, manage the band, and be there for whatever they needed. Later, they might blame being starstruck for why they had so quickly agreed. It was  _ Trevor Wilson _ \- they’d had posters of this guy on their walls as kids. No way in hell were they going to turn him down when he thought that they sounded good, that they could be legends some day. From that day on, Bobby was the manager of Sunset Curve. He gave them input on songs, encouraged them, told them stories of his time on tours or with his old band before he’d gone solo, and helped them record their first demo. He told them that his daughter, who lived with her mother and didn’t see him very often, actually went to school with them at Los Feliz High School. He’d gotten them gigs, too, at small clubs in the area or at more open mic nights. 

_ “Gotta play small before you can go big, boys,”  _ he’d told them. 

And they’d believed him. They’d trusted him. For a year, everything seemed to be going perfectly. Bobby had even mentioned pulling a few strings to get them a gig at The  _ Orpheum. _

Then just this morning, everything came tumbling down. 

Luke had gotten a phone call yesterday. A family member of one of Bobby’s band mates from the 90s had found a video of them playing in a club on YouTube. When they’d finished performing, Bobby had joined them on stage to talk to them, and the video just barely caught him doing so. But it had been enough for the bandmate’s sister to recognize him, and she had tracked down Luke’s phone number. She told them that they shouldn’t trust Bobby. That his first solo album had been songs he’d stolen from her brother- the lead singer of Bobby’s old band. She said that he’d taken all the songs, sold them as his own, and never gave her brother or the other band members a single mention of credit. She warned them that he would do the same thing to them. 

At first they hadn’t believed her. That sounded nothing like the Bobby they knew. Nothing like the Trevor Wilson they knew. He was their mentor, their  _ friend.  _ He cared about them and their music.

But it had nagged at them the rest of the day. Finally, they made the decision that they’d talk to Bobby in the morning, when he was supposed to meet them to discuss a new gig. At first, Bobby had said they were all crazy, and why would he do that. They’d been relieved. 

Then Bobby got a phone call. 

Bobby always had the volume on his phone so loud that they could hear the person on the other end of the line talking. 

Talking about a new album Bobby wanted to record. A new album with song titles that matched  _ exactly  _ ones Luke had written. Songs that had been scribbled out in the black notebook Luke had practically cried two weeks ago thinking that he had lost. 

They’d practically exploded on their mentor. Bobby had scoffed, rolling his eyes and telling them that it was just life in the business. 

_ “You can’t pass those songs off as your own!” Luke had yelled.  _

But they’d been too late to stop him. Bobby had given the songs to his producer a week ago, selling them off with his own name attached. 

_ “We’re not dead like your old band, Bobby,” Reggie had spit at him. “We can tell everyone that you stole them- that you’re a fraud.”  _

_ “Who’s going to believe you?” Bobby asked. “Who is ever going to believe that I stole songs from a bunch of nobody 17 year olds?” _

That had stung more than words could say. After all he’d done to encourage them, tell them that they were amazing, and he’d taken it all back with those words. It made sense now why he’d kept them stuck in small gigs and barely popular clubs. He didn’t  _ want _ people knowing who they were. Because it would be so much harder to sell the lie. The worst part is that Bobby was right. No one was going to believe them. They had no proof that Luke had written the songs; they’d never performed any of them before. Get Lost, Long Weekend, and Crooked Teeth had barely even made it out of Luke’s notebook and onto their instruments yet. 

Bobby had told them to finish fleshing out their old songs before they worked on new ones. 

And Bobby just left them like that. Manager-less, song-less, and in tears. Sunset Curve had been barely getting by  _ with  _ Bobby’s help. They had no idea how to do this on their own. And they were sure that if they tried, Bobby would find a way to tear them right back down. 

Luke looked as if he’d rather be dead than dealing with this as he scooted down on the couch, resting his head on Alex’s shoulder. Alex reached out, grabbing Reggie’s hand from where it rested on the bassist’s bouncing leg, gripping it tightly in his own. 

The Pattersons’ basement had been their practice space for as long as they’d been together. For the first year and a half or so, Luke’s parents had been far less than supportive. They’d fought with Luke about wasting his time in a rock band, about going behind their backs about buying another guitar, about everything. They’d eventually come around when they saw how important this was to all three of the boys, though, and were now their biggest supporters. Through all of it, though- the fights and the support- they’d allowed the band to turn the basement into a studio. They’d soundproofed it, brought all their equipment down there, and used it as a space to feel happy and safe. 

Now the whole room felt tainted with Bobby. 

“We’ll figure this out. . . right?” Alex asked. When he received no answer from either of his bandmates, he figured that it was answer enough. 

None of them had a clue what to do. 

\----------

It had been three months since Bobby had left them high and dry. The boys had barely played a note since. Luke had been trying desperately to write new songs, but it just wasn’t happening. He’d get maybe a page or so down, then tear it out and crumple it up, adding it to the growing pile of recycling. Emily and Mitch had asked them what happened- why weren’t they in the studio as often anymore, why hadn’t they heard their instruments being played as they came home from work, why hadn’t any of them seen Bobby for a while? 

The three of them didn’t know what to say. They didn’t want to admit what Bobby had done to them- what they’d let Bobby do to them. They were still so broken and sad over the man they had trusted with something so important to them. Alex would randomly start crying as he sat at his drums, and Reggie’s jokes had whittled down to barely one a day. 

So they just told Mitch and Emily that they were taking a little bit of a break from the band, focusing on school. It was close enough to the truth. The beginning of the semester performances were coming up for the music program at school, and they had a bunch of classwork to catch up on. It was like they went through the day on autopilot, only ever really talking to each other. 

They were currently in music class, watching Nick- one of the school’s lacrosse players- riff on one of the school’s guitars. It was nowhere near what Luke or Reggie could do- and  _ did _ for their own performances- but he was good. When he finished, everyone clapped politely. Luke, Reggie, and Alex had all sat themselves in the back of the classroom where they weren’t going to draw attention to themselves. 

As Nick retook his seat in front next to Carrie-  _ Bobby’s daughter _ \- Mrs. Harrison smiled at all of them. 

“We have one last performance. Julie?”

They boys watched as a shy looking girl- Julie Molina- stood up hesitantly from her chair and moved towards the piano. They’d all seen her around school before, and everyone knew that her mom had passed about a year ago from cancer, hitting Julie hard. They all sat up a little bit as Julie sat at the piano; they’d only joined the music program a year ago, after Luke’s parents thought it would be good for them, and they’d never actually heard Julie perform. They watched for a moment before Julie stood, shaking her head sadly as she left the room. 

“Is this where we clap?” Carrie asked, and all three of the boys took a sharp breath. None of them had ever been a fan of Carrie as a person. Alex loved her group, Dirty Candy, and they all respected her talent, but that was where the love for her stopped. She wasn’t the nicest person to be around. For the past year they’d thought,  _ wow, she is nothing like Bobby. _ Now though, it seemed like Carrie’s attitude was far more similar to her father than they’d thought. 

Flynn, Julie’s friend, called the pop princess out, chasing after Julie. Class was over after that. Music was the first class of the day, so the boys trudged their way through the rest of school, glad that almost all their classes were with each other. When the final bell rang at the end of the day, they began packing up to go home. As Alex pulled his car keys out of his backpack, though, Reggie let out a quiet “Shit!”

Luke turned to him, asking, “You okay?”

Reggie sighed, “I think I left my music folder in class this morning. Do you guys mind going back to get it with me?”

Luke and Alex both just shrugged- meaning no, neither of them minded- and followed Reggie down the hall towards the music room. They were quiet as they walked, which is why they heard it as soon as they did. A few feet outside the classroom, Alex put his arms out, stopping Luke and Reggie in their tracks. When they turned to question them, he shushed them quietly, gesturing to the room. 

Coming from inside was the calming, perfectly played notes of the piano, and a strong, melancholy, beautiful voice ringing out to join it. They all just stood, listening. 

_ “Wake up, wake up if it’s all you do _

_ Look out, look inside of you _

_ It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain _

_ Raising your voice to the rain” _

Whoever was singing, she was  _ amazing.  _ The boys all looked at each other, shock and smiles on their faces. They’d never heard anyone sing like that. The song finished, the final note ringing out with what sounded like a sob following after it. Before Alex could stop him, Luke stepped forward, peaking in the classroom door’s window. His mouth dropped open a little bit as he did so, then he moved back to the boys. 

“It was Julie,” he said quietly, causing Alex and Reggie’s mouths to fall open in similar fashion. 

_ Julie?  _ Julie, who they’d never heard sing before, who had just gotten kicked out of the music program, who apparently had the voice of a freaking  _ angel _ ?

Silently, the boys turned around, making their way down the hall to leave Julie in her private moment. When they were out of hearing distance, Alex let out a quiet, “Holy shit.”

Reggie laughed a little, nodding. “That girl has the voice of a freaking angel.”

Luke nodded his agreement. 

“You know, I forgot for a minute,” Luke said after a minute or two, as they were all moving out into the parking lot. 

“Forgot what?” Reggie asked gently. 

“What it was like to have music make you happy.”

Reggie and Alex shared a look around Luke. All three of them had tears welling in their eyes. 

“Me, too,” the drummer and bassist responded simultaneously. 

\----------

Julie no longer had first period with them, which made it hard for them to catch her during the day to talk to her. Luckily, the four of them did have the same lunch. The boys entered the cafeteria, searching the crowded room for Julie. They spotted her on the other side of the lunch room, sitting by herself but looking lighter than they’d seen her in a year. They all shared a look, then a smile, and moved towards Julie. 

The younger girl looked confused as they all sat on the bench across from her. 

“Um. . . hi?” she said, frowning a little bit. 

Alex shot her a smile, and Reggie waved happily, which seemed to relax her a little bit. Luke leaned his arms on top of the table, which moved him a little closer to her. 

“Hey, Julie. My name’s Luke.”

“Alex.”

“Reggie.”

Julie still looked confused, but smiled at them a little at their introduction. 

“We’re in a band called Sunset Curve, and we were wondering if you had a minute to talk with us.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was the first installment of A World Without Ghosts! I have a lot planned for this series, and I'm really excited about it. 
> 
> OPINION TIME: one thing I haven't been able to decide for this series is if I want to go down a Juke or Ruke route. I love them both so much, and while Juke is clearly where the show is going and this series is loosely following that, I personally find it so much easier to write for Ruke. So what do you guys think? Leave a vote for which ship you want in the comments!
> 
> Next up: Before a big performance, the boys decide to go get street dogs.


End file.
